Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Rarotonga is located in the South Pacific Bible Belt. Big sturdy churches are part of life. If you don't belong, you don't belong anywhere because their influence is considerable. We went to the service - like all tourists - for the singing. Spectators were ushered upstairs. The left side of the downstairs pews was completely taken up by a visiting church group from Tahiti. They did a nice job singing - until we heard the two Rarotongan choirs. Even the Tahitians who are used to excellent church singing listened with their mouths open at the high quality, power and rhythm of the local mixed choir. This is the outside of the church. After the service, we were invited to join everybody in the community hall for a snack. The older ladies kept on singing and praying on the community hall porch.Another of the many churches

Our motel was right on the beach. The lagoon is not deep at that point, but it is possible to swim. We were there in the south Pacific winter which made some days a bit too chilly for extensive swimming, but others were hot and humid.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Rarotonga does not have the dramatic landscapes of the Society Islands, but many other great features. It has a reliable public bus that takes an hour to drive around the entire island. The Cookies speak English which seems to be important to many travelers. French Polynesians - obviously - speak French, but residents involved in tourism speak English as well. The native tongue on both island groups shares 60 % of its vocabulary, but that doesn't help me since I only speak ten words of Tahitian. The Cook Islands are less expensive than the French Polynesian Islands. Their currency is the NZ dollar. The Pacific Franc in FP is tied to the Euro.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

This 2002 trip takes us to the main island of he Cooks in the South Pacific: Rarotonga. Although their island is very lush, the Cook Islanders grow less flowers than the Tahitians. This magnificent poinsettia is next to the soap and perfume manufacturer. Palm fruitThe modest palace of the Prime Minister